Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0282612 (PIN)
 2,291 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

It has been proposed that a lack of apoptosis plays an important role in neuroblastoma (NB) progression. We therefore screened cDNA array filters, including 198 apoptotic genes, in order to identify mRNA transcripts that are differentially expressed in tumours with unfavourable versus favourable biology. Twenty-one genes were analysed further using real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Significantly lower levels of DNCL1 (PIN; P(c)(corrected) = 0.0054) and NTRK1 (TrkA; P(c) = 0.039) were found in NB tumours with unfavourable biology. In addition, BID, BCL2, APAF1, CASP2, CASP3 and CASP9 were found to be preferentially expressed in tumours with favourable biology, whereas CDKN1A (p21), IL2RA, and MCL1, were found to be preferentially expressed in NB tumours with unfavourable biology. In conclusion, mRNA levels of transcripts encoding pro-apoptotic mediators of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway were found to be expressed to a lower extent in tumours with unfavourable biology. Our data also suggest that the mitochondrial pathway is suppressed in advanced stages of NB tumours, due to an imbalance between anti-apoptotic and pro-apoptotic mediators which is a finding that may have therapeutic significance.
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PMID:Imbalance of the mitochondrial pro- and anti-apoptotic mediators in neuroblastoma tumours with unfavourable biology. 1573 69

Apoptosis is known to be involved in tumorigenesis and a defective ratio between cell proliferation and apoptosis may contribute to the emergence of a malignant phenotype. Transcriptional silencing of apoptosis-related genes associated with aberrant promoter methylation may impair the apoptotic machinery, ultimately leading to cancer development. Aberrant promoter methylation of numerous genes involved in many different pathways is frequent in prostate cancer. Our aim was to quantitatively assess the methylation status of several apoptosis-related genes in prostate adenocarcinoma (PCa) and its precursor lesion, high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN). First, 120 PCa and 39 HGPIN were screened for altered expression of BCL2, CASP8, CASP3, DAPK DR3, DR4, DR6, FAS, TMS1, TNFR2, using 28 benign prostate hyperplasias and 10 normal prostates as controls. Underexpressed genes were then assessed by quantitative methylation-specific PCR to determine the promoter methylation status. Finally, quantitative mRNA expression of aberrantly methylated genes was performed and methylation data was correlated with standard clinicopathologic parameters. DAPK, DR4 and TNFR2 were significantly overexpressed in HGPIN and PCa, whereas BCL2, TMS1, and FAS were downregulated. Although methylation levels were significantly higher for TMS1 and BCL2 (correlating with advanced stage), an inverse correlation with mRNA expression was found only for BCL2. We concluded that the apoptotic pathways are largely preserved in prostate carcinogenesis, in particular the extrinsic pathway, with the exception of FAS and TMS1, which are epigenetically downregulated. In addition, BCL2 was also found to be frequently silenced in PCa due to aberrant promoter methylation, thus supporting a future role for apoptosis-targeted therapy in prostate cancer.
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PMID:Detailed analysis of expression and promoter methylation status of apoptosis-related genes in prostate cancer. 2046 97